How to Imagineer Your Content Strategy Like Walt Disney

One of the most effective ways to create a content strategy is to forget about marketing and focus on storytelling. By creating a compelling editorial calendar, you’ll have an easier time marketing your content and convincing customers that your content and brand are worth their time. If storytelling is the secret to your content strategy, then who better than legendary storytelling master Walt Disney to inspire your brand’s content?

Principles of Disney Success

The legacy that Walt Disney left behind has created an empire dedicated to telling incredible stories and capturing the attention of audiences regardless of age. His ability to imagineer compelling stories (content) is a skill that marketers today should learn from. Marketers can implement the following principles from Walt Disney:

A story needs a theme. While Walt Disney enjoyed entertaining with his stories, he also used them as vehicles to showcase a theme. Likewise, instead of creating an editorial calendar with a hodgepodge of posts, consider creating an overarching theme that defines your brand. Remember, the more specific and niche-oriented you become, the greater opportunity you have to serve your target audience.

A great hero needs a great villain. Walt Disney imagineered his stories around strong conflict and the ability of heroes to overcome them. As a content marketer, it’s your job to define a problem that consumers have and how your company can help them solve that problem. The greater the villain, the greater the hero. In other words, it’s not enough to simply talk about how great your brand is. Without defining a problem and the solutions your brand can provide, your content marketing efforts are limited.

“You don’t build it for yourself.” Walt Disney imagineered many of his stories by knowing what people wanted and building a story for them. Just as products and services must fill a specific need, content needs to match specific trends for the mediums in which they’re published. For instance, short form content is taking over social media while distinct brand personality is taking over storytelling.

Which content strategy tips from Walt Disney can your business put to work?

Daniel

Daniel Chioco is a writer living in Nashville, TN. He earned his Commercial Music degree at Belmont University, where he also studied creative writing and wrote for the student newspaper. When he isn't creating content, Daniel works as an actor and films YouTube videos. He is also a freelance musician and is authoring his first fantasy novel.